The Clear Perspective Podcast with Agathe Holowatinc

Had so much fun chatting with Agathe in this episode!
We talked about implementing nutrition programs in your dental practice!

Get in touch with Agathe!

Instagram - @fuelledbermuda

Website - fuelledlife.com

Email - [email protected]

Allison: Hey everyone happy Thursday. And welcome to this week's episode of the clear perspective. I have a very exciting guest on today who is going to be talking to us about implementing nutrition programs in our dental practice. Hi, how are you today? Agatha It's great to see you.

Agathe: Hi, allison. I'm doing great.

Thank you so much. So honored to be here. Really excited. It's such a hot topic and exciting topics. So thank you for having me.

Allison: Of course, this is such, such an important topic and you and I got connected through a client of mine, and that was your dentist. And so we just had just such a great organic conversation.

The first time we met. And I knew that I wanted to bring you on here and really share your wisdom and your ideas to the dental community, because this is something that not only affects our patients and affects ourselves. And so I'm really excited to kind of deep dive into. Nutrition, I would say like tips and education today for all of us and our patients.

Thank you. So let me introduce you formally, because I want everyone's to kind of just get a grasp of everything that you do. Um, you are a certified integrative nutrition, health coach and the co-founder and director of fueled Bermuda. Also, she is from Bermuda guys. So I get to hang out with her on the island when I'm there.

Um, she is an author, a healthy food, private chef, a cooking master class teacher, and a health industry, entrepreneur. She's a passionate advocate of real food, holistic whole life approaches to health, communicating big ideas in a simple way. She truly believed that vibrant health is our birthright and that achieving optimal health is the best springboard for achieving all of her biggest dreams.

She also takes a food as medicine approach and believes that optimal nutrition is key to preventative health and reducing the likelihood of both minor health issues and chronic disease. She's a member of nutrition therapist, association of Bermuda and her services are covered by insurance, which is phenomenal on the island.

So, so great to have you here and something that I focus on and something that comes into my lectures all the time in my private coaching, when I'm coaching dentists and their teams, we always talk about nutrition. And sometimes my clients are a bit surprised. They're like, wait, aren't you a practice coach.

Are we supposed to be talking about like the Providence and loss statement? And. Uh, accounts receivable and I'm like, yes, but we need to focus on the human first and the professional second. And that's how we're going to get the most out of our teams the most out of ourselves. And so I feel like you and I have so many things that are aligned and I'm just excited to dive in.

Agathe: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I love how your approach is so integrative because it is, it comes down to our health, the health of the patients. It really comes down to that. That's where it all really starts. And it's beautiful that you bring it in. And I love that. It's a surprise. I remember it. You know, like, oh, she knows.

She talked about nutrition.

Allison: Exactly. And in dentistry, especially like dentistry is a tough industry. It's hard. These it's mentally taxing. It's emotionally draining sometimes. And so when my teams are showing up to work and to the practice as their best self, they have to be properly fueled and they have to probably energize in order to get the best out of them.

And so I think this really kind of ties into what you believe is food as medicine. I'd love to kind of like hear more about that and what it means to oral health as well.

Agathe: Sure, absolutely. So. A lot of the times people think of food and they look at food on their plate. And when they think of food in general, they think of filling my hunger and filling my craving so that they go away.

And it's just like, I'm hungry. I need to eat or have a craving for ice cream. And so I want to have ice cream and these are actually quite low standards. When you really think about it, we can actually look at food and expect so much more. We can raise the bar. Um, is how I like to put it, raise the bar on what food can do for you.

Cause it can do so much more than just the calories for energy and fill your hunger and fill your cravings so that they go away. Food can be like a powerful and potent medicine. Like it can be even considered sort of a drug in a way and how it can benefit your body benefit. All your organs benefit your skin health benefit your vision benefit your oral health.

So it's really about raising the bar with me. That's what I teach. That's what I coach. 'cause um, we need to look at food a little bit differently. You know, like our spice cabinet is so medicinal, turmeric, garlic, ginger they're detoxifying they're, uh, they lower, um, sorry. They lower inflammation in the body.

They, you know, are antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, all of these different things. Massive antioxidants are like in our spice cabinet. And so not only adding flavor to the foods that we love, but adding these medicinal qualities and benefits that we have for longevity for feeling better for quality of life.

Right? So it's just such a, it's just, it's a higher standard is a higher thing to go for. And it really is. And that's where the company name come from. It's fueled for F U E L, which is fuel or food unleashing energy for life. Energy right vitality that good feeling that life force, rather than food unleashing, you know, some of it does processed foods, packaged foods, sugar laden foods, massive amounts of carbohydrates.

They don't unleash energy, vitality and life force. It's more like disease, and diseases in the body, right. They unleashed something different. So when we go to eat and we look at our plate or bowl or whatever, it is, even the glass of whatever we're drinking, it's like we get the chance to, it's like there's a fork in the road at that moment.

And we can make the decision when we choose to eat something we're going to choose to pivot in the direction of optimal health. Or if we're going to go down a road of not really optimal health, it will, it'll, it'll hit the two lower standards of it will fill my craving and, and hit my hunger spot and I'll be able to get to the next meal, but it can do so much more.

So I always think when you're looking at food, do you have a choice, right. And it really can provide. Optimal health outcomes and can optimize your life overall. It really can. Right. And when it comes to oral health, um, it's huge. It's so huge. I mean, in so many ways, um, Oh, my goodness. So you can really poor nutrition can lead to tooth decay, right?

cavities gum disease. Nutrition is so linked to these things. You know, if you disrupt the oral microbiome too, it's just, you get all of this sort of disorders within the mouth. So, um, yeah, so it's really about. When I think of food as medicine and oral health, it really is looking at the food that you're eating and knowing whether or not that's going to benefit you and optimize your oral health, or if it's going to take you in the opposite direction.

Right. And you're going to not see great results. You know, my, my dentist that we know together, um, that we know both of us know, um, he said he saw like a young, like five-year-old six. The,

Allison: and it's, I mean, I love that you say that too, because like, I think oftentimes we think about food and we're like, is it, we just don't to eat junk food. Like we kind of consider good to be like, donate bad food. Well, what if we looked at it differently and we thought, what is the best food we can eat? What is like the ultimate optimal food we can eat?

You. And I talked about how I'm such a nerd when it comes to like optimizing the human persona. Like, I am like so excited to help people just like become their best self and everything that they're doing and food is, is like a foundational aspect of that. It's huge. And in the dental industry, like we spend so much time.

Fixing the problems that poor diet and nutrition has caused that sometimes it's almost overwhelming in a busy practice, even like get even deeper to the root, like we'll have the conversations with our patients, but it's from a perspective and I'm speaking from like my practice, my experience, but it's sometimes hard to like really take the time to dig into the true optimal

food to eat for your optimal oral health. Like if we see a patient that has a ton of cavities, we'll definitely have a conversation. Like, what are you eating? What are you doing? What are your habits? Let's change those. But on the more proactive side, which is where the dental industry, the health industry everything's going is prevention.

We could do more. That's what I'm really excited to talk to you about today. I want for those who are listening or watching this afterwards, to be able to take them like tools that they could put into their practice immediately. So let me ask you, like, what would you say are some simple nutrition tips that would optimize our listeners oral health in 2022, personally, and for our

patients.

Agathe: Sure sure and yes, I love just going back. Cause I can feel your excitement. I feel the excitement as well, but it is a new frontier. It is like for vision, it's a very visionary space to be in, right? Like going upstream, right. Finding out what that root cause was of what you guys are fixing all the time.

Right. So. It's really it's visionary. It's the next frontier. It's definitely a great, it's an exciting space to be in and it optimizes the health of the patients and everybody. Right. So it's such a great place to be. Um, and so some tips. All right. I actually have a PDF. Can I share that with everybody? All right.

Let's see.

Okay, so let me just back this up just a little bit. I've created, um, let me make it a little smaller so you could see it more at a glance here. Hold on. Is it, can you see what I'm looking at? It's a four step cavity in tooth decay prevention plan. Perfect. Yeah. Okay, great. So, all right. So what we can do is really find out how we can optimize our nutrition to.

Optimize our oral health basically. Right. And so some ways of doing that are really finding out what we need and what we need to cut out. So I've created this PDF and it's, um, a forest. How many in tooth decay prevention, nutrition plan, um, and you know, very visual. So you get an idea right away of what might be good and what might be good for, you know, um, optimize oral health.

And in 2022, I mean, we just started the new year. So why not set some goals in this area and why not already know? Like from month one, What are some areas that I can tackle right away? What can I incorporate over time? Right. So I'm just going to give you the information. So step one would be, um, remove or greatly reduced, added, and processed sugar.

So, you know, foods that contain sugar of any kind can contribute to tooth decay and controlling the amount that we eat can really, really benefit us in terms of oral health. So different. So the tricky part, actually, when it comes to sugar and I wrote it right down here, there are over 60 names for sugar.

So you have to be careful. You would have to turn that package around in general though. Um, so like different names that could be like, um, you know, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup. Route posts, dextran evaporated, cane juice, organic sugar. That always is tricky because people think that that's healthy because it says organic.

Right? Um, so in general, though, even things like dried fruits and raisins can also kind of cause some problems, but the general rule would be, you know, the more you're able to convert to a diet filled with nutrient rich whole foods and move away from sugary processed, packaged, and fastfoods. The better off you'll be.

So a lot of these added sugar and processed sugar foods are in junkfood. It is our packaged foods in your processed foods, even in, you know, um, sports foods for athletes and things like that. So you might get those really thick people and they're like runners in their self and they're healthy, but they suck on these sweet, um, gels or beans throughout their run.

Right. So that could be something that could be causing problems. In their mouth, another one, you know, consuming nutrient rich, um, and moving towards nutrient rich foods high in certain minerals, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. So these are, you can basically eat your way to better oral health by eating lots of greens.

I always tell my clients greens are gold collards and kale. The beet leaves, you know, wherever you see that deep green color, or even a lighter green color. So even all the lettuces and the butter, lettuce, and that, um, you romaine lettuce and all the different lettuce, avocados, almonds. Um, what else?

Bananas? Um, turnips oranges. So that's where you find calcium magnesium phosphorus. Whole foods, sorry, these minerals can be found in whole foods. So you don't necessarily have to be supplementing with all of these things. I'd say, eat the real deal, you know, get these nutrient foods into your diet and, you know, they might, you might sort of turn up your notes to them if you're don't have the right recipes.

So some people think color is on in colors, so you have to make them delicious. Right? So put them in a stir fry, saute them, put them in a nice warming winter stew, put them in a soup. Um, pop them into your smoothie. You can hide the flavor by putting berries and other ingredients. Right. So if you're really, you know, and if you're really not into that green flavor, it just, or the texture, you just have to get the right recipe.

It's just the right recipe. Um, and even for children, it's just the right recipe. So, and then another thing we can do to optimize our oral health in 2022 is look at these vitamins, a D E and K. So you can use a. Supplement for, let's say like a D three with a K that's a great supplement to take. I would say that, um, even in Bermuda and it's the sunshine vitamins, vitamin D we're low in vitamin D.

So doctors are always telling me Agathe, you wouldn't believe how low in vitamin D our patients are. So, um, a D three and K supplement might be a really great idea and then whole food sources of these vitamins ADE, and K would be, again, all of your greens, look at how much greens show up for optimizing your health.

Um, so colors again, kale, but also your orange foods. Those are high in vitamin a, so carrots, squash, apricot, sweet potatoes, um, yeah, uh, orange peppers and things like that. So, and then other foods include grass fed butter, asparagus, um, Brussels sprouts, romaine lettuce. So again, going to these whole foods, thinking about, you know, what am I going to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that I can incorporate things including, you know, salmon and herring and mackerel and fatty fish.

So just want to kind of keep a close eye for oral health on ADE and K, those are really big. Um, and then the last one is, look, just looking out for acidic. You know, and carbohydrates. So dentists are often telling me, you know, it's carbohydrates if even those healthy outs, you know, and even the healthy brown rice, but those carbs and, uh, acidic foods are really something to watch out for this year.

If you want to really optimize your oral health. I think that these are some really solid steps we can take. It's only four steps, you know? Incorporating things. So what we can add in, instead of taking out, taking out the first one is taking out and the second one and the last one, a little bit of taking out those acidic foods.

Um, but you know, you can switch to healthier alternatives. You can cut out sodas. And if you do that for your oral health, you will be actually optimizing your whole body health. And, you know, you'll, it will have a ripple effect, a beautiful ripple effect, so highly recommend, you know, and if you want to start one at a time, that's where it is a great place to start too.

Yeah,

Allison: and I love this. I love that you've made this too, because I think sometimes like when we're in practice, like moving from patient to patient, like it's, it's important that we sit down and have this conversation, but sometimes it is a time factor to really dive into this, into the, like the detail and the level that we want for our patients to understand.

Um, it's, it's challenging sometimes. So I think that this is a great resource and tool that, you know, I would recommend anybody if they're, if this is something that they're trying to. Help their patients in this year, they want to add a different level. Um, you know, it's going to do so much. So how do you, like, what would you suggest for practitioners or dentists to really extend the value to their patients?

Um, in order to like, include this knowledge.

Agathe: Yeah. So it is, um, it is a new area. And so I think it would take really, um, a visionary practitioner. It would give you an edge. I feel so if you're on a small island, say like Bermuda, um, and you implement a nutrition guidance into your practice. I think that it will stand out.

And as that's the trend, the world is moving in, like really looking at what we're eating. Um, you know, as, um, as a way to optimize our life, just in general, I think it will be well received by patients. So it's kind of, you know, it's new. So we have to think about how do you implement these strategies? So what I thought about when I was brainstorming, um, this area is.

On demand content. So when you're with the person that they have something to take away, that would be beneficial to them in terms of nutrition guidance. So that could be like a handout that you have readily available in paper, because not everyone's going to open up that email. Right. So they might be very busy, but you can also send it by email case.

They're really more of the digital person, or they want to just have everything electronic, you know, and then they can store it away and keep it on file. So, you know, but it depends so, so that you have something available for every generation and every type of person and every need would be like a PDF.

It's simple and easy, not 20 pages, you know, visual, just foundational guidance, you know, and then, um, because today we're such a visual culture and we're used to video content. I think a video would be fantastic as well. Perhaps as I know when I'm at the dentist is always a screen and there's some kind of TV show or something going on with.

And it could be an option to do put on a presentation about, you know, something interesting and visual, um, where you can speak to them. Um, while they're having their, while they're at their appointment about optimal nutrition, you know, how delicious it can be and how nutritious and what it brings and what it looks like and how it can appear on your plate.

So not something, you know, boring and hum John, like, you know, you really, I think. Bringing a really fun, interesting presentation. Um, that's a video content type of thing as well. Um, just for, for that additional benefit of there watching it and being able to understand as you go along and the whole thing.

So, yeah, I think that that would be great. Um,

Allison: I love these ideas. I think that as long as in practices and I'm thinking from my clients too, like a lot of the people that I work with are the ones that are like really trying to stand out in the industry. They're the ones that are really looking for ways to like transform their patient's mindset on oral and overall health.

And so this just like makes sense and timeliness and, and I love that. Like it is, it really is like a new. Kind of approach is really focusing on the prevention, but that's where the world is going. And so these are all amazing ideas. So get some, get a PDF that is branded for your office, give it to the patient, send an email, send it in a video.

I would say all the ways, um, and even putting it onto your social media, like tips for having healthier teeth, because it's so true. However patients come into the practice. Like sometimes we just don't have the time to really give them the information that's going to help them prevent in the future. And sometimes they just don't want to listen because they're in the practice and they're like, get me out of here.

I just want to go home. So I love all of these suggestions and strategies. And I think this is a timely conversation. So if you are listening to this and you're like, you know what, this is a great value. Add to my practice. I want to learn how to learn more about this. Where could they find you to, you know, work with you on creating something for the practice?

Agathe: Absolutely. Thanks so much. Um, they can find me on our website. So it's fuelled life.com and also on Instagram at fueled Bermuda. And, um, and they can email me and reach out by email. So that's [email protected] and fuelled has two L's in the middle. So it's F U E L L E D. Um, and so, yeah, so [email protected]

and anywhere else. Um, yeah, or they can call me, should I do that as well? Or is that,

um, I'll put that in the comments so you don't have

Allison: exactly, but I really enjoyed this time, you know, getting to hear from your perspective, I think it's like such a timely message and a reminder. We're busy in the dental office with thousands of things to think about, you know, finding a resource that we can give to our patients quickly and easily. And so I'm going to finish up with our last question.

And this is a question I ask everyone as we finish up and it is, what is your definition of success in your zone of genius? Like if you could wave a magic wand and something in the world would change that, you'd be like, yes, this is exactly what I'm here for. What am I for? What would that be?

Agathe: Wow. That's a really good question. So what I would change in the world, like my definition of success with clients or with, with patients, or just with the peop with people in general, with nutrition,

Allison: like with the people that you work with every day, like you have a very powerful mission to help people optimize their lives through nutrition.

So like, what would your measure of success be with what you're doing?

Agathe: Um, I would say that it would be that. Really that people start to raise the bar. They really start to raise the bar. They look at food differently, and it's such a, it's such an approach of abundance too. When you look at food as medicine, instead of scarcity and thinking what I can't have.

And often food is something that people think, oh, it's stained or, oh, you know, you don't want to have too much or whatever, but thinking about food as medicine is so powerful, it's such a potent like change of perspective that I think that it just definitely pivots you in a completely different direction.

And then that direction is the direction of prevention is a direction of like more quality life in your years that you live, you know, Um, I mean, eat, if we could eat our way to better health, it's just such a powerful message. And I would love to see that in the world, you know, rather than people thinking of restrictions and diets and all of this kind of stuff, but all of those kinds of processed foods, I find they fall away.

When you focus on and put attention to, and have an intention about using food as medicine and understanding how it benefits you and getting beautiful recipes, you know, all of a sudden. You know, store-bought packaged, um, hyper processed chocolate bar. It just doesn't seem that attractive things like that sort of fall away.

So instead of being afraid or thinking I can't have, or for me, or I'm eating healthy, I'm on a diet or whatever. So much more powerful and the energy behind, um, really raising the bar, thinking of food as medicine, thinking of, of fueling your body for optimal health and knowing that it'll optimize your life, it will optimize your life, you know, comes through.

So that's why you're so passionate about it too. Right? Cause it's undeniably changes how you show up in this world. Even hydration, simply hydration, like brings you energy and takes away headaches and clears it. So, you know, down to a simple, you know, water, it changes how you show up in the world. And you know, that would be, I think would be a beautiful gift.

Um, if I could be a part. Um, of that, you know, change in the world and create a ripple effect in that area, you know? Uh,

Allison: it's, it's so important. And I can just like, see like the passion, the energy, like you're like glowing. It's like a great example of this for all of us. And I think it's really important because there's a lot of the people that I work with, a lot of people that you work with, like they have big goals, they have big dreams, they have hard jobs.

They have a lot of energy output and we have to remember like, where does this start? The foundation. Is that how we're taking care of ourselves? What we're feeding ourselves? Are we hydrated? Are we sleeping? And once you have those foundations, I really think that you can accomplish anything. So take such good care of yourself.

Take such great care of your patients. And this year is going to be an incredible year. So I want to thank you so much for coming on. Sharing your wisdom. I would recommend you reach out, um, even for your own personal nutrition needs or health needs. If you are a busy dental dentist, dental practice owner, reach out and make sure your nutrition is on point this year, because it's going to be the foundation for everything you do.

So thank you so much. It was great to see you. And I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and we will see you next week.

Agathe: Thank you so much.